Tag: reviews platform

In order to stay relevant today, online stores must be extremely creative in their design, content and even their customer service. It’s important to stay alerted in this business since the trends of today may be old news by tomorrow. From the millions of online stores that are available we cherry-picked a few that stand out from their competition with their unique approach.

The user experience is becoming more and more exciting. Some online stores have blogs that are constantly updated, while others showcase pictures that become gifs once you scroll over them. Others do contests and use giveaways to attract attention and get more exposure. And that’s what really gets us as customers; freebies! Some websites offer discounts if you subscribe, such as Rest that offers a $10 discount coupon, a good deal if you intend on buying their products. A creative freebie is what we see on the Hello! Lucky website. This store sells notes, and also offers the customers DIY project ideas and free printables as an incentive for the readers.

Transparency for you, more sales for me

We know one of the biggest reasons for cart abandonment is a lack of transparency but there are a few online stores that got it right. Meet Molly & Me Pecans, a site offering a smooth navigation until the very end. Instead of being surprised at checkout, the site has a shipping calculator so that customers can see the exact shipping fee that their order will cost. Made, an online furniture store makes sure to give its customers transparency by offering as much information as possible including all product details, videos and lots of pictures, including customer pictures, for a more trustworthy experience.

Reviews in Retail

Reviews are important for every product we want to buy and today over 77% of people only buy once they have read at least one review. Nordstrom is staying one step ahead of competition thanks to their “fit reviews”. Unlike most retail sites, they offer the option of seeing reviews from previous buyers about how well the items fit them. They also have a feature that allows the customers to find their “true fit”, which is extremely useful while shopping online and honestly, not enough retail websites have this option. Nasty Gal is another example for a great solution to a different problem. Sometimes shoppers don’t want to look through older items that they’ve already seen. So as not to “waste” their time, this website offers the “what’s new” tab to let buyers skip straight to the good stuff. They also have a live chat button that can answer questions but more importantly, can give fashion advice, which often makes all the difference between a sale and an abandoned cart.

We want proof

Sometimes even when a customer is interested, they want extra incentive to convince that the item they’re interested in is, in fact, worth buying. Bellroy did this perfectly. Bellroy sells slim wallets, as a solution for the usually bulky wallets we carry around. The website features a scale which users can play around with to “fill up” the wallets so they can visually see the difference between a regular wallet and a slim one. They also simplify the process by helping the buyer start with one simple decision: do you want a wallet in which you can fold your bills or leave them flat?

Keep it fresh with blogs

With trends changing constantly it’s hard to keep track and it seems that any time that we finally get the hang of things, the rules change and we’re left wondering what we should be doing differently. Well, there’s one thing that has been done correctly from the start: blogging. Search engines love new, unique content. The more the merrier in this case. So, when you think about it, how often does the information on your website really change? Probably not very often at all. That’s why it’s so important to keep a steady blog filled with new information at least every week (if not a few times a week). This way when customers are looking for companies like yours, the search will help bring up the freshest and most relevant content. Blogs are for everyone and can be created for any field. For example, Harry’s, who sell shaving goods, know the importance of a blog and keep theirs updated constantly. They also allow members to customize their order and choose how often they should get their products shipped to them. Oyster, an online book store, uses blogs as well as a lot of customer reviews to ensure they stay high in search rankings. Free People has one of the best blogs to date, writing about diverse topics and uploading 3-4 new posts a day, providing unique and fresh content to their users and for search engine optimization. Make sure to keep your site fresh, creative and trustworthy to keep your customers coming.

Heyoya is a game-changing comments and reviews platform that brings voice to e-publishers and e-stores, improving sales and user engagement by allowing readers to express themselves beyond the medium of text. Heyoya’s new Receiver plan allows for quick and easy below-the-fold monetization. Heyoya is a game changer for websites and is proven to increase brand affinity and the quality of user-generated content.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is more important than ever and it is a crucial tool to leverage in order to help a business succeed. While there are many different marketing channels a company can choose, and multiple digital channels, SEO in many ways remains the foundation of a solid online presence. SEO has changed over the past few years but it isn’t going away anytime soon, so we’ve collected a few tips to make sure you make the best of it in 2017.

It’s time you invest more time on the content of your website. Research shows that relevant content is the most effective SEO tactic but it is also the most difficult to execute. Content that is interesting, engaging or fun to read is not longer enough, your content needs to be relevant and above all else, it must create value for your customers. If users find your content relevant and gain value from it, they’ll want to share it, and when they do your content will be seen on additional platforms, helping to drive more traffic to your website.

People like to share stories and information they like and trust, they share to get a word out about a cause or brand they care about, and they share in order to add value. 49% of consumers say that sharing allows them to inform others about products they care about and can encourage action or changing an opinion. Web content needs to be unique enough to make people want to share and talk about it. There are many ways to do this including creating a more personal tone and experience both through the type of stories shared and through the channels you choose to use (just think about how video and audio can help bring a more personal and trustworthy feel to your website compared to text alone).

We see. We click. We comment.

The main goal for any business is to attract users. According to Forrester, 93% of online experiences start with a search. The majority of search engine users are more likely to click one of the top 5 suggestions in the results page. This makes it all the more important to have effective SEO to optimize your website ranking and attract more customers.

Another way to raise your ranking by having the users leave comments. The more high-quality comments you have the more you will improve the ranking of your content. Leaving comments involves time and effort so it’s very important to make sure your comment platform has a seamless UX. A great alternative for comments is to try voice comments, this helps save users time and even go hands-free, while still being able to share their opinion. Using voice reviews can allow for a new kind of interaction as well as motivating the user to share what they think about products with their friends, once again spreading the word about the website and bringing attention to it. This is a win-win situation for the user and the website.

Heyoya is a game-changing comments and reviews platform that brings voice to e-publishers and e-stores, improving sales and user engagement by allowing readers to express themselves beyond the medium of text. Heyoya’s new Receiver plan allows for quick and easy below-the-fold monetization. Heyoya is a game changer for websites and is proven to increase brand affinity and the quality of user-generated content.

The biggest friction point (58% of consumers agree) is when you think you’re buying a product for a certain price but when you reach the checkout point, the shipping and VAT kick in and suddenly your purchase is much more expensive than what you intended. This relates to the issue of trust. More money equals more anxiety and anxiety equals mistrust, friction and cart abandonment. So, how do we fix this? Simple. Write the total amount from the start or as early in the process as possible! Consumers prefer honesty than to think they’ve been tricked into choosing a specific product.

Security is key

Anxiety, which leads to friction points, can be caused by several reasons; the shoppers don’t have a sense of security, they may not be receiving enough information or perhaps it’s just because the UX isn’t smooth enough and makes them feel edgy. Let’s take a moment to talk about security. For example, consumers will feel more secure if the payment is done through a company they know and trust such as Paypal (and while you’re at it, add a few more options), as opposed to writing in their card details and hoping the site is secure. Focusing on communicating how secure your checkout is, is crucial. Besides using Paypal, another way to instill trust is to add a Google certified shop badge. This way an e-commerce merchant endorsement that shows that Google “identifies and stands behind stores that provide a consistently great shopping experience” and we all (well most of us) trust Google.

It’s all about timing

Here’s another little tip, at the checkout point, add a phone number to contact. You’ll be surprised how many buyers, especially new ones, have questions at checkout and if you’ll be available you just might be sidestepping another friction point and saving a lot of potential cart abandonments. Though having a live person available would be the optimal situation, it’s not always possible. Thankfully, a trend that will be growing strong this year are the chatbots, and when placed strategically at checkout they can offer the consumers the answers they need, reassuring the customer that he or she can trust the process.

Reviews everywhere

Another way to ensure trust is reviews. Sometimes on websites, users may be skeptical as to whether the reviews are real as are the users writing them. If all reviews are superb it also may cause mistrust as opposed to if there is a healthy mix of reviews with mostly satisfied customers while still having a few that were less so. Using voice in reviews can make them much more trustworthy since the consumer gets a real sense of the buyer’s opinions. Credibility is key and that’s why a lot of companies display the reviews in a central location on the home page as well as the specific product page. Another tip is to have the reviews in the checkout section as well. This way there is direct context and positive reviews to give them the boost to checkout. If you’re missing any of the above on your website, you’ve got some work to do.

Heyoya is a game-changing comments and reviews platform that brings voice to e-publishers and e-stores, improving sales and user engagement by allowing readers to express themselves beyond the medium of text. Heyoya’s new Receiver plan allows for quick and easy below-the-fold monetization. Heyoya is a game changer for websites and is proven to increase brand affinity and the quality of user-generated content.

For more information about Heyoya, or to start using Heyoya’s Receiver plan and start earning money today, click here.

As the steady growth of e-commerce continues, the importance of online shops and taking advantage of new trends is a key. Some of the trends below began in 2016 while others are just emerging this year with a bright future ahead of them. From content to AI, we’ll talk a little about some of the biggest trends why you should get up to speed.

Nearly 70% of Americans shop online regularly and sales online are continuously increasing. In order for a store to remain successful, it has to have an online presence. But presence isn’t enough, you need to be unique, eye-catching, original and create a buzz. The consumer needs to feel that their experience of your website is no ordinary thing. One way to do this is to ensure that the consumer will receive recommendations in real time based on market trends, past purchases, brand interactions, and demographics.

A great example of offering users a special experience can be seen on the L’Oréal Paris website. The website and a mobile friendly version of it, allows consumers to “try on’ makeup. This allows potential buyers to play around and try on different shades while the company collects information about the individual’s interests, leading to ultra-personalization. This can also be a great opportunity to offer customized coupons which have a major influence on the purchasing decision.

It’s all about the consumer

Some experts say that 2017 is the year of the customer experience. Even though mobile-commerce is increasing, at the end of the day, consumers still prefer to do most of their shopping from their desktop. They will still search through their phone but the final transaction, especially when it’s a large purchase, will probably be done through a bigger screen. It’s therefore extremely important to have a seamless transition between all the various channels. Impulse purchases should be made to fit mobile-commerce (such as buying tickets to the movies or booking a restaurant) since it turns out users check their phone over 100 times a day in order to search for items or information.

In order to keep the process smooth and the consumer happy, experts recommend that businesses adopt some of the tools that search engines have perfected and that users enjoy, such as making sure your content is rich, meaning it includes pictures, videos, voice reviews, etc. There should be an option for auto completion in the search tab and smarter search filters. The website should be location based and have a clear division into categories. Another important aspect is to have a tolerance for misspellings as people often misspell things when they are searching (and especially if they are in a hurry or multitasking).

It’s all about saving time

When shopping in a physical store one of the biggest bonuses is being able to take home what you purchased immediately. You know what they say; “time is money”. This year we’ll be seeing a lot more same day deliveries. It’s still a cost issue, as same day delivery is obviously more expensive but companies are starting to take initiative in order to reach higher customer satisfaction. Until a solution is found another option now given is drop off points at stores near the customer’s home, that way they can still have the same day delivery while saving on delivery costs.

It’s all about AI

As important as personalization is, true personalization is unfortunately not possible but this year businesses will try to achieve it chatbots and other technologies. So, what are chatbots? Chatbots are one of the most important breakthroughs in marketing technology, and although they’ve been around since 2016 they are really gaining traction this year. They impersonate people and communicate directly with buyers. For now, they are still referred to as messaging bots as talking to them is done through messaging apps. Once these chatbots move into more personal elements such as voice, we will have reached a new and more personalized level of communication and from there the options are endless.

It’s all about you

E-commerce has always been focused on the consumer but it seems that this year it’s set a new standard. From personalization to content, to the illusion of a human representative through chatbots, videos and unique websites, seamless transactions and saving time, most trends revolve around making the consumer feel special and comfortable. Finding the right balance between personalization and uniqueness will take extra thought on behalf of the business. Whether it’s an interactive video, a chatbot to imitate a personal connection and using the element of voice to create personalization, trying new technologies and ways to improve the customer experience will ultimately improve your online store.

Heyoya is a game-changing comments and reviews platform that brings voice to e-publishers and e-stores, improving sales and user engagement by allowing readers to express themselves beyond the medium of text. Heyoya’s new Receiver plan allows for quick and easy below-the-fold monetization. Heyoya is a game changer for websites and is proven to increase brand affinity and the quality of user-generated content.

How many times have you received an automatic recorded voice message, caught on to what was happening, hung up and thought: I hate spam! Some companies think this is a powerful marketing tool but us clients? Not so much. Apps such as Truecaller help us identify spam but it’s still not enough. We like to be in control. We like to feel that it’s our choices that lead to us buying certain items or choosing certain brands (even though it isn’t always subconsciously so). We also like to feel like our experience is unique and personal, that the service revolves around us. When we receive a call, we want to know that someone made the effort to call us, even if it is to badger us, because we like the personal connection. If thousands have received the same call we did, you’re right to assume that we wouldn’t feel special.

Smartphones today are more than just a device, they give us the control and easy access to most websites when we want and how we want, but we sometimes forget that this is a two-way street. Before we talk about what this means, here are a few fun facts you may not know. Since 2014 there are more mobile devices in the world than people! And if that isn’t crazy enough, 79% of people ages 18-44 keep their phone near them 22 hours a day. Most can’t leave a room without it. When we say it works both ways we mean that marketers essentially have the power to contact consumers 24/7. So, while the consumer must be the one in control who chooses when he or she wants to interact, marketers and customer service staff need to be constantly there, ready for anything, whether it’s for shopping, service, complaints or praise.

Gaining trust with voice

Voice is a powerful tool for marketing when used correctly; it feels genuine and creates a sense of trust. And when it comes to trust, adding a personal aspect such as voice is the fastest way to get gain it. Voice is starting to appear more and more frequently online and in different forms such as audible tags which combine pictures and voice to create an engaging experience, voice reviews that give the product a sincere opinion from their buyers, product labels, promotional materials and more. As competition grows between companies, one must always keep a creative edge over the rest when it comes to mobile marketing. For example, consumers use their phones to research a product and its reviews even when they enter a store. So, why not allow them to keep their eyes on the product while listening to the reviews, thus utilizing the power of voice and giving users a more positive experience. Gene Keenan, VP Mobile Strategy for Isobar said: “We use voice because it has the largest audience and has the ability to entertain, engage and inspire in ways that text messaging can’t.”

Mobilegeddon

HubSpot claims that mobile commerce (which currently makes up a total of 34% of all e-commerce transactions) will grow another 31% in 2017. Search engines understood the importance of mobile-commerce, and this led to Google’s “Mobilegeddon”, this past April, where Google began ranking mobile-optimized sites higher than those that aren’t optimized. Now is the time to combine voice with mobile friendly websites and marketing, ensuring your business ranks high and gaining consumer loyalty.

Heyoya is a game-changing comments and reviews platform that brings voice to e-publishers and e-stores, improving sales and user engagement by allowing readers to express themselves beyond the medium of text. Heyoya’s new Receiver plan allows for quick and easy below-the-fold monetization. Heyoya is a game changer for websites and is proven to increase brand affinity and the quality of user-generated content.

So why is feedback so important? Let’s take customer feedback as an example, meaning the buyer’s reaction to a company product. If the customer isn’t happy with the product he or she will leave negative feedback, usually in the form of a review, which can damage the reputation of the company or reduce sales on a particular product or service (just think of all the examples of bad reviews going viral). But if the company utilizes the feedback and learns from it, they have the potential to improve what they do, incentivizing more customers to buy and ultimately creating a higher level of satisfaction. High levels of customer satisfaction are strong predictors of customer loyalty and product purchase. So the trick is to turn the challenge of a bad review into the opportunity to learn and to improve. For this reason, a lot of companies and services ask for feedback. You’ve probably seen signs or messages such as: Rate our service! Your feedback matters! How satisfied are you with…..? When should we send you emails? etc. Feedback is effective listening and is a great way for businesses and individuals alike to enhance and improve performance.

Voice vs. written feedback

Feedback is also crucial in the field of education. Several researchers have found that the conventional way of writing feedback is not very effective and that most of the time teachers’ comments hardly make an impact. Most students don’t read the feedback thoroughly and those who do, often misinterpret it. Over the past few years, more and more teachers and institutes have been using voice as a channel for feedback. Through voice, teachers can emphasize the correct words, convey their tone accordingly and clearly state what needs to be changed or fixed. Teachers can also provide more context in less time and this is without a doubt much more efficient; in one minute a teacher can say 4 times as many words as they can write. Voice feedback allows for students to feel as though the teacher is literally talking to them, making the experience a more personal one and helping the students feel more involved in class.

Voice recognition software also makes life easier for the teachers, allowing them to easily create online lessons and video tutorials while enabling the students to obtain necessary knowledge quickly and effectively. Combining the verbal feedback with visual elements of the students work during the feedback process allows the students to receive a more complete and clear understanding and with that a better result for their final work.

Feedback is more effective with voice

Overall, a voice is a much more personal way of delivering feedback, whether it is from teachers to students or for online product reviews. At the end of the day, regardless of the field, feedback is all about trust, and voice helps to create trust much more freely and easily than other forms of media such as text or graphics. Ultimately voice can allow for a clearer understanding of a subject or product and a much higher level of customer satisfaction.

Heyoya is a game-changing comments and reviews platform that brings voice to e-publishers and e-stores, improving sales and user engagement by allowing readers to express themselves beyond the medium of text. Heyoya’s new Receiver plan allows for quick and easy below-the-fold monetization. Heyoya is a game changer for websites and is proven to increase brand affinity and the quality of user-generated content.

You’ve probably had to deal with customer service at some point in your life. It may have been for a personal purchase, a gift that didn’t turn out quite right, or a business service. According to a recent survey, about 88 percent of people deal with customer service in one way or another over the course of a year. There have been a lot of innovations in the field over time, and it may seem that customer service is progressing and in fact, evolving. Years ago, customer service was entirely limited to actual phone conversations, today you can resolve issues through messaging services and apps across a range of devices. New technologies like AR and VR open up even more possibilities for customer service.

Isolated portrait of a beautiful helpdesk or support line operator answering a call.

Given how much technology has moved forward in the last few decades, you might expect to see a similar leap in terms of consumers’ satisfaction with customer service experiences. Yet this doesn’t seem to be the case. It turns out that today’s consumers are exactly as unsatisfied with customer service as they were back in the 70s. All the amazing new apps, cool platforms and new hardware devices have done nothing to change the statistics in the past few decades. Today, 56% of customers are walking away from customer service without having their complaint fully resolved. This is an enormous number, and if we look at the other 54%, not all of them are fully satisfied either. Only about 22% of customers finish a customer service interaction feeling fully satisfied. This is a small fraction of the total number of consumers using customer services at any time.

Looking for a personal connection

People often ask whether humanity has evolved over the ages. If we look back to the 19th, 18th, 17th centuries or even further than that we see a lot fewer technologies but we are unable to answer the question of whether humanity as a species has changed its nature beyond superficial technological advances. In many ways when we read texts from older time periods, humanity, or at least human nature, looks almost identical. This is relevant to customer service. While the technologies have changed, the actual need of the consumer has not. Customers want a personal connection, even with just one individual. They want to be listened to and they want some kind of solution. Whether you are using advanced VR imaging techniques or a humble phone call, customers are basically all looking for the same thing: a personal connection.

Automation eliminates empathy

One of the innovations within the customer service sphere has been automation. This is great for time and cost saving reasons; it’s so much faster and efficient than any human. However, technology often removes the main thing customers are looking for: empathy. Too much automation can lead to feelings of frustration because ultimately there is no one at the other end who really understands your problem, there is a just a bot with a limited number of possible responses.

Bringing back voice

However great and easy to use new modes of technology are, it turns out nothing beats voice when it comes to customer service. Of course, satisfaction rates aren’t 100% when talking to another person about your problem but they are much higher than when using other technologies, and especially compared to automated services. More than anything else, voice allows customers to connect with another person and to feel that someone understands and empathizes with them. While there are great technologies out there, it looks like the ones without a voice will always be missing a key component of customer service.

Heyoya is a game-changing comments and reviews platform that brings voice to e-publishers and e-stores, improving sales and user engagement by allowing readers to express themselves beyond the medium of text. Heyoya’s new Receiver plan allows for quick and easy below-the-fold monetization. Heyoya is a game changer for websites and is proven to increase brand affinity and the quality of user-generated content.

E-commerce is without a doubt an inseparable part of our lives, and concepts we use to think were impossible are quickly becoming a reality. The past year has given us some new trends in the world of e-commerce that are still growing strong. Here are a few of the big trends from last that continue to be relevant this year.

Mobile e-commerce is the future

Research shows that 51% of Americans prefer to shop online rather than in stores. Assuming this percentage will keep growing in the near future, retailers will need to fully embrace digital commerce if they want to survive. While digital commerce is growing, mobile commerce is expanding particularly fast. More and more shops and apps are making shopping available via smartphones and they are doing it by providing accessibility, a user-friendly process and making sure there is the least amount of friction during the shopping process, meaning that the user should have to click as few buttons as possible from point A of choosing the product to point B, the payment. Using m-commerce is quickly becoming a necessity, not a recommendation. Live chat support is utilized by many and when done effectively can help bring customers back, as it offers an immediate point of connection with the user and with it a solution. This support trend is likely to dominate the upcoming years as well.

Personalized shopping is already the norm but at times is not 100% accurate. How many times have you looked at a certain product and then had it show up on several different sites you visited long after you’ve lost interest? Retargeting can be an effective tool in this case and even necessary but the problem is that it doesn’t take context into account. So instead of just offering a personalized experience, sites are now offering a contextualized experience so that consumers are seeing more relevant content than ever before. Contextualization is all about making sure the right experience is given to the right user at the right time on the right device.

Real-Time Analytics

The main issue for most e-commerce businesses is to try and proactively lessen cart abandonment. And while there are several reasons why it happens, such as unexpected shipping costs or a confusing checkout, there was no way to deal with these situations in real time, until 2016. Real-time analytics is a real game changer, allowing businesses the opportunity to provide assistance to their customer before it’s too late. Identifying a problem at checkout and reaching out to the customer before she leaves the site will ultimately increase conversation rates dramatically.

Trusting in Voice

Another major change in e-commerce is the content provided to the consumer. Optimizing product description and having quality photos is no longer enough. Last year we say branded video content as well as voice reviews entering the market, which allow brands to build greater levels of trust with their customers. Video and voice can boost a site’s SEO while increasing conversation rates and allowing shoppers to consume more in less time. It’s not easy to find the perfect fit while shopping online and an enormous 92% of e-commerce customers users read online reviews before a purchase because uncertainty is still a huge obstacle for online purchasing. This means, the more information there is available about the product, whether pictures, descriptions, video or reviews, the more likely they will be to buy online. Companies need to be smart and gain people’s trust without overloading them with information. Voice reviews can do just that while remaining personal and true to the buyers own voice and opinion.

Heyoya is a game-changing comments and reviews platform that brings voice to e-publishers and e-stores, improving sales and user engagement by allowing readers to express themselves beyond the medium of text. Heyoya’s new Receiver plan allows for quick and easy below-the-fold monetization. Heyoya is a game changer for websites and is proven to increase brand affinity and the quality of user-generated content.

In a world where technology is constantly evolving, the web is a necessity in our daily lives. While we take our ability to quickly scan through sites for granted, the layout of content and unclear labeling are some of the biggest barriers for the visually impaired. Many apps and features have already been created in order to help the blind enjoy the benefits of the physical and online world but there is still more work to be done.

As of now, there are special phones that have been created specifically for the blind, such as Ray, and several apps that can be used through smartphones. Leading companies such as Apple are joining the efforts and constantly trying to bring more options to the market including the Apple Watch which can read your messages aloud via Voice Over, allowing the user to navigate without needing to see the screen, and the Taptic Time option which allows for distinct taps to play out so that the blind can feel the time.

Some of the better-known apps are the navigation apps (like Ariadne GPS), which help the blind explore the city beyond their comfort zone while keeping them safe, by signaling crossing a street with a vibration and announcing the stops on a bus or train. Apps have been developed in order to allow the blind to virtually see color (Color ID Free), money (LookTel Money Reader) and so much more. As new apps are introduced, the most helpful tool till today is still a program known as text-to-speech or a screen reader. These programs help the blind by using voice to read aloud the website’s content, as well as e-mails, tweets, weather and Facebook feeds.

Even though the element of voice is still the most helpful one regarding text, there is yet to be an app or computer program that is able to describe pictures properly. Facebook tried to help out by introducing an image recognition feature but this didn’t work out as well as they’d hoped, since even though Facebook may recognize the friends who are tagged in the picture it cannot describe the rest of the elements accurately.

Crossing Barriers with Voice

This problem becomes a more serious issue when it comes to shopping online, as this is when the ability to describe a product correctly is most important. While the text-to-speech program tries to describe the site elements as best it can, when it comes to pictures the situation can quickly become a frustrating one for the visually impaired. For most of us, shopping online saves us a lot of energy as it’s done from the comfort of our home but if the website is not made clear enough to navigate through and the screen reader is not capable of describing the product properly, the advantage of online shopping is lost for the blind.

Besides the important element of seeing the product, another way to ensure we make a good buy is by reading the reviews. Research has even shown that as many as 88% of users trust online reviews as much as they would personal ones. Through voice reviews, the blind will easily be able to listen to them and receive a clearer and more accurate description of the product, and just like every shopper, be able to make a calculated decision on whether to buy the product or not. The text-to-speech limits will be less of a barrier and voice will once again provide a more positive experience as visually impaired consumers enjoy the convenience of shopping online.

Heyoya is a game-changing comments and reviews platform that brings voice to e-publishers and e-stores, improving sales and user engagement by allowing readers to express themselves beyond the medium of text. Heyoya’s new Receiver plan allows for quick and easy below-the-fold monetization. Heyoya is a game changer for websites and is proven to increase brand affinity and the quality of user-generated content.

Customer reviews are more important than ever before. We have seen repeatedly how reviews can singlehandedly make or break a business. And the number of consumers who read and trust online reviews is growing. This is largely down to trust. Customers trust other customers a lot more than they trust retailers and certainly much more than ordinary advertising channels. According to statistics, 88% of customers trust online reviews as much as personal ones, and 90% read online reviews before visiting a business. These numbers are likely to grow even further next year. Essentially, reviews have become the number one way to sell products and services online.

Source: pixabay.com

Raising search visibility

Apart from the trust issue, which is of course essential, reviews raise your search profile. The more people reviewing products on your online store, the better. Every new review increases the unique content on your site, which improves your ranking and ultimately helps drive more traffic to your online store. Google’s algorithm favors high-quality unique content, and leveraging your customer’s thoughts and opinions is the best and most efficient way to produce a lot of this content quickly and at a low cost. As Google’s SEO algorithms continue to grow and gain sophistication they seem to place more and more weight on reviews.

It’s all about authenticity

So with so much hinging on reviews, businesses are often tempted to fake them. It’s not so hard to create a fake IP address and put out some good content that looks just like real reviews. But beware; too many excellent reviews make customers suspicious. More than anything they are basing their opinions on trust and nothing is so good that it doesn’t have criticism. A few bad reviews make your online store seem authentic and also provide opportunities for improvement. Ultimately, consumers want the “real” reviews, and this means the good the bad and the ugly.

Reviews are digital word of mouth

Word of mouth is an essential way for businesses to grow and gain customers. Even in our digital world, face-to-face word of mouth remains a strong channel of advertising. However, it is fairly unpredictable and therefore difficult to fully plan or leverage. What’s interest to note is that online reviews are essentially the digital aspect of word of mouth marketing. They have taken something personal and translated it into online mediums that are accessible by much greater numbers than face-to-face interactions.

Bringing back voice

While digital mediums are fast and simple to use, they often lose the personal element of word of mouth. However, using different mediums can help bring the personal connection back to what has largely been an anonymous and text-based world of reviewing. With new technologies and platforms such as voice and video, online reviews are taking a step forward. It is hard to ascertain credibility when all you can see is a written comment, but when a tone of voice is brought back into the equation it is much easier to tell if a review is legitimate. For this reason, voice reviews are much better at generating trust and ultimately much better at increasing conversions.

Heyoya is a game-changing comments and reviews platform that brings voice to e-publishers and e-stores, improving sales and user engagement by allowing readers to express themselves beyond the medium of text. Heyoya’s new Receiver plan allows for quick and easy below-the-fold monetization. Heyoya is a game changer for websites and is proven to increase brand affinity and the quality of user-generated content.